Blink And You'll Miss A Hilarious Meta-Joke In Steven Universe's Steven's Dream Episode

In Season 4, Episode 10 of "Steven Universe" (titled "Steven's Dream"), Steven (Zach Callison) has a series of dreams where he is trying to find his mother Rose Quartz's (Susan Egan) palanquin, which he has learned about in real life. His father Greg Universe (Tom Scharpling) is with him in these dreams — as well as in waking life — trying to help Steven find the palanquin. Although they are on a serious mission, in one of the dreams Steven and Greg take a side-trip to Korea where they sample food, explore the city of Seoul, and go shopping in an adorable montage.

While in Seoul, Steven and Greg visit what appears to be an animation studio, and Greg sees a Korean woman drawing a picture of him wearing the outfit he is currently wearing (rather than his everyday clothes). According to ScreenRant, "Steven Universe" was animated in Korea. Specifically (according to Animation Fixation), the show used the animation production company Rough Draft Korea, the sister company to Rough Draft Studios in California. Thus, when Greg sees himself being drawn, this is actually a complex, meta-joke.

Greg looks horrified to witness his own creation, but Steven just stands next to Greg, not noticing the drawing and remaining blissfully unaware as to what is going on. Greg pulls Steven away from the animation studio in order to shield him from having the same existential crisis he is going through.